Indiana Court Keeps Halt on Abortion Law for Non-Christian Group

A trial court’s order preventing Indiana from enforcing its anti-abortion law against a group of people whose religions don’t share the Christian belief that life begins at conception will stay in place for now, after the state’s top court refused to hear state officials’ appeal.

The Indiana Supreme Court didn’t give a reason for rejecting a petition to transfer the case from the appeals court, but it was “prudent” to send the suit back to a trial judge to decide the issues on the merits first, a concurring justice wrote on Tuesday.

The case presented “transfer-worthy issues with previously undecided questions of statewide importance,” but was still in a preliminary posture and the injunction would have a limited impact, Justice Derek R. Molter said. The action was still evolving, and some of those questions could become moot, he said.

Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush joined the concurring opinion.

Justice Geoffrey G. Slaughter dissented, saying he appreciated the court’s “wait-and-see view in the abstract” but disagreed with its reasoning. Answering the transfer-worthy issues of statewide importance now would give the trial judge greater clarity and fewer things to decide on remand, he said.

The state’s top court should have agreed to transfer to consider whether the trial judge correctly interpreted and applied the state’s religious freedom law, whether the law harmed nonpregnant plaintiffs, and whether the state’s court should recognize associational standing, he said.

Justice Mark S. Massa joined the dissent. The court’s fifth justice, Christopher M. Goff, didn’t comment.

The Indiana Court of Appeals in April said a trial judge didn’t abuse his discretion by entering the injunction. The plaintiffs, including Hoosier Jews for Choice and several anonymous individuals, were likely to succeed on their claim that the state’s abortion law violates their rights under Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it said.

Indiana’s RFRA prohibits the state from substantially burdening a person’s religious exercise, except when necessary to advance a compelling state interest. Even then, the provision must be written narrowly. Religious exercise can include pregnancy termination, the appeals court said.

The appeals court judges sent the case back to the trial court with orders to narrow the injunction pending trial, but the defendant Indiana medical licensing board members petitioned to transfer the case to the state supreme court in May.

Indiana prohibits abortion in all but three circumstances: when it’s necessary to save the person’s life or prevent serious health risks, when there’s a fatal fetal anomaly, and when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

The plaintiffs sought to prevent enforcement, saying the provision was based on the Christian tenet that life begins at conception, which clashes with their own religious beliefs.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office represents the board members. The ACLU of Indiana represents the plaintiffs.

The case is Ind. Members of Med. Licensing Bd. of Ind. v. Anonymous Plaintiff 1, Ind., No. none, transfer denied 12/10/24.